Long‑acting medicines could make daily tablets a thing of the past for some patients

For millions of people around the world, managing a long-term health condition means remembering to take medicines every day, often for years. But advances in long-acting medicines mean that some treatments now need to be taken only once a month, every few months or even twice a year.

Long-acting medicines are designed to release a drug gradually into the bloodstream. For some conditions, this could make treatment easier to manage and reduce the risk of missed doses.

Medicines prescribed for long-term conditions work best when taken as directed. But taking medicine regularly can be difficult, particularly when people need several medicines or multiple doses each day. Some people forget. Others may stop taking treatment when they start to feel better or because of side effects.

Missed doses can have consequences. With antibiotics, for example, not taking treatment as prescribed can contribute to treatment failure and antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance happens when bacteria and other microbes change in ways that make medicines less effective against them. It’s estimated that bacterial antimicrobial resistance was associated with 4.95 million deaths worldwide in 2019.

Antimicrobial resistance is also making the development and use of antibiotics increasingly difficult and expensive. High development costs and limited financial incentives mean that few new antibiotics are being brought to market, and many of those currently in use are based on drugs developed decades ago.

Missed doses can also lead to a condition getting worse and increase pressure on health care services. In the U.K. alone, unused prescriptions are estimated to cost the NHS more than £300 million each year. Unused medicines and their packaging also create waste. Blister packs for tablets, for example, are made from several materials and cannot usually be recycled through normal household collections.

Long-acting medicines could help by reducing how often treatment needs to be taken.

Recent advances in HIV prevention and treatment have already shown the potential of long-acting medicines. In 2025, NHS England announced that long-acting cabotegravir injections would be made available to some people at high risk of HIV who are unable to take oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). In November 2025, NICE recommended long-acting cabotegravir as a form of PrEP for this group. After the initial doses, the injection is given every two months, offering an alternative to taking preventive tablets every day.

Long-acting injections are also being used to treat HIV. NICE recommends cabotegravir combined with rilpivirine for some people whose HIV is already well controlled with treatment. After the initial doses, the injections can be given every two months instead of daily tablets. Because the medicines remain active in the body between injections, they can maintain viral suppression without requiring medication every day. More recent research has also found that long-acting injectable treatment can improve viral control among some people who struggle to take daily HIV medication consistently.

Long-acting medicines will only help if patients want to use them. Doctors and other health professionals also need to be willing to prescribe them. Global research has found that many health care providers are willing to prescribe effective long-acting medicines, while patients have also shown high interest in them as an alternative to tablets.

They may not suit everyone. Some people may prefer tablets because they can stop taking them when they want or need to. Cost, access to clinics and the need for follow-up appointments may also influence whether a treatment is practical.

Researchers are now trying to develop long-acting medicines for a wider range of diseases. One example is the UK Hub for Advanced Long-acting Therapeutics (Halo), hosted at the Centre of Excellence for Long-acting Therapeutics in Liverpool. Halo brings together scientists, doctors, patients and members of the public to explore which treatments could benefit from a long-acting approach and what people would actually be interested in using.

Long-acting medicines will not replace every tablet or inhaler, and patient choice needs to remain central to treatment. But reducing how often medicines need to be taken could make it easier for some people to stay on treatment, help prevent conditions from getting worse and reduce waste from unused medicines.

For millions of people living with long-term conditions, improving treatment may sometimes begin with something fairly simple: making medicines easier to take.

Who’s behind this story?

Robert Egan

Bachelor’s in mathematical biology, Master’s in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language.

Full profile →

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.